Ryman gates kept on rising in 2016

According to the Ryman League's official statistician Mike Wilson, a total of 198,046 spectators turned out, a rise of 5.3 per cent on the equivalent period for last season despite 16 less fixtures being played.

Wilson's stats show a big rise of 19.7 percent in the number of fans watching the Ryman League's top flight in the first four months of the season helped make up for a 1 per cent drop in Ryman South and 9.7 per cent less less in Ryman North.

In total, the Ryman Premier's fixtures attracted 104,052 fans and a 52.5 percent overall share, 57,725 turning out in Ryman South and 36,269 in Ryman North.

With 2017 now well underway, Dulwich Hamlet still hold the record for the biggest gate so far of the campaign, an attendance of 2,217 for their clash with Bognor Regis Town on Saturday 8 October.

Guernsey attracted the biggest gate so far in Ryman South with 769 fans turning out for their fixture in the Channel Islands with Chatham Town on Saturday 3 September, Non-League Day 2016. In Ryman North, Heybridge Swifts hold the attendance record heading into 2017 after hosting 346 supporters for their Boxing Day game with Maldon & Tiptree.

The Ryman League's cup competition, the Alan Turvey Trophy sponsored by Robert Dyas, is also showing a healthy rise in gates this season with average attendances up 2.8 percent in the first round and a whopping a 16.6 per cent in the second round.

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